Many people turn to wine as a second
career. They make their fortune in business, and then see owning a
vineyards as a nice retirement job. Known in the trade as
lifestylers, they rarely make great wine, and push up vineyard
prices in the process. While wine is a second career for Jamie
Kutch, his story is quite different. He caught the wine bug while
working as a NASDAQ trader for Merrill Lynch in New York, and this
led him to change careers before heíd broken 30.

Growing up I was always a hobby guy,'
says Jamie Kutch. 'I fell in love with wine in college. Then when I
was working on a trading desk at Merrill Lynch, I geeked out with
friends on Friday nights.' Kutch says that he fell in love with
Pinot Noir, and that one of his favourites was Kosta Browne. 'I
wrote to the winemaker and said you are living my dream,' Kutch
recalls, 'and Michael invited me out.' So Jamie and his partner
swapped New York for San Francisco, and he began living a double
life. He got a trading job in San Francisco, and then after work and
during weekends heíd immerse himself in vineyard and winery work.
The day job lasted six months. When his internship came to an end,
Jamie started his own project making Pinot Noir.

The challenge was to acquire fruit from
the best cool (and even) cold vineyard sites in Sonoma. His trading
skills helped, and first release was the 2005 vintage. He made 150
cases, which had a heady alcohol level of 16.3% alcohol. Heíd
already told fellow geeks about his project on the eRobertParker
forum, and as a result had a commitment from 400 customers before
heíd made the wine. The second vintage he decided to extract lighter
but got the picking date wrong, and the final alcohol level was
15.2%. Jim Laube of the Wine Spectator gave this wine 93 points. 'I
now get scores in the low 80s,' he shares, 'but I regard these as a
badge of honour!'

The third vintage he picked incredibly
early and it ended up at 13.2% alcohol. This was 100% destemmed,
just berries. Kutch says it had light body but no weight and
shoulders. 'Pinot Noir doesn't care where it is planted,' he says.
'At the end of the day it depends on acidity and ripeness and so on.
Californian wines can age incredibly well. I'm excited to be holding
back enough wines to prove this in the future.'

Winemaking isnít too complicated with an
emphasis on not adding things, except for minimal acid additions
where these are needed. Punchdowns are by hands or feet, or both,
and the after fermentation the wine is transferred to French oak
barrels by gravity, where it stays without racking for around 16
months.

As
with many high-end Californian wines, these Pinot Noirs are sold
through a mailing list. I think they are brilliant, and if I was in
the USA I'd do all I could to get on it.

THE
WINES

Kutch Pinot Noir Sans Soufre 2013
Sonoma Coast, California12.1% alcohol. An experimental wine without
any added sulfites. Beautiful aromatics here: sweet red
cherry fruit with some liqueur-like richness, and fine herby, spice
savouriness in the background. Lovely texture on the palate with
warm, sweet, pure red cherry fruit and a hint of strawberry. There
are faint earthy hints and thereís a liveliness to the finish. This
has an incredible texture and drinkability. 94/100
(12/14)

Kutch Pinot Noir 2013 Sonoma Coast,
California12.3% alcohol. Lovely black cherry aromatics. Fresh and quite
taut with sweet berry notes and a bit of spiciness. The palate is
supple, smooth and quite elegant with ripe black cherry and plum
fruit, together with some grippy structure under the fruit. Sweet
and alluring with nice freshness and elegance. Lovely. 94/100
(12/14)

Kutch McDougal Ranch Pinot Noir 2013
Sonoma Coast, California12.3% alcohol. Power and finesse here. Fresh black cherry nose
with some spicy undertones. The palate is supple and focused with
sweet black cherry and plum fruit and lovely structure. Nice
density. This has the stuffing to age well. 94/100
(12/14)

Kutch McDougall Ranch Pinot Noir 2012
Sonoma Coast, CaliforniaThis is a wine in need of some time. It will probably outlive
me. Concentrated, taut and backward with powerful raspberry and
cherry fruit, good structure and some savoury spiciness. Dense and
in need of time, but everything is there for a positive development
in the cellar. Remarkable intensity but not unbalanced. 95/100
(03/14)

Kutch Falstaff Pinot Noir 2012 Sonoma
Coast, California
Jamie Kutchís Pinots are quite structured and intense, yet they
donít lack elegance: wines for the long haul. This is from a very
cool site, itís 100% whole cluster and 25% new oak. Sweet, lively,
aromatic cherry and plum nose. The palate is fresh, pure and
concentrated, with lovely bright fruit, boldness, and good
structure. 94/100 (03/14)

Kutch
Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 200913.9% alcohol, 288 cases made. This comes from three separate
vineyards, and the grapes are destemmed and then fermented in
three-quarter ton bins with manual punch down, before going to
French oak, a third of which is new. Sweetly aromatic nose with warm
red cherry fruit and fine spicy notes. Itís ripe and alluring but
quite elegant. The palate is smooth-textured with good
concentration. Mouthfilling, ripe and seamless, but still with a
mineral, spicy dimension. Good balance. 93/100

(03/11)

Kutch
McDougall Ranch Pinot Noir 2009 Sonoma Coast13.9% alcohol, 288 cases made. 40% whole cluster used, with 50%
new oak. Fresh, assertive cherry fruit nose with some fine spicy
notes, as well as a pleasant hint of greenness. Fresh and taut on
the palate but with firm structure and nice spiciness, perhaps from
the stems. Power and elegance combined. Nicely fresh and savoury,
showing some sweet cherry and plum fruit. Dry, tannic finish. Quite
serious, with potential for development. 94/100